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A review of top MIT community stories of 2023 includes a presidential inauguration, international accolades for faculty and students, “Dialogues Across Difference,” new and refreshed community spaces, and more.

MIT community in 2023: A year in review

MIT News

December 21, 2023

Top Institute stories dealt with a presidential inauguration, international accolades for faculty and students, “Dialogues Across Difference,” new and refreshed community spaces, and more.

MIT faculty, researchers, students, and staff made headlines in 2023, making key research advances including detecting a dying star swallowing a planet, exploring the frontiers of AI, creating new clean energy solutions, inventing tools aimed at earlier detection and diagnosis of cancer and even exploring the science behind how to best spread kindness.

MIT in the media: 2023 in review

MIT News

December 21, 2023

MIT community members made headlines with key research advances and their efforts to tackle pressing challenges.

A new course open to the MIT community gives context to the crisis in the Middle East.

Minicourse open to the MIT community gives context to the Middle East crisis

Zach Winn | MIT News

December 21, 2023

Attended by more than 500 students, faculty, staff, and alumni, with more sessions planned, the course offers a jumping off point for constructive discussions.

MIT historian Tristan Brown’s new book, “Laws of the Land,” looks at the role of fengshui in China’s civic and legal realms.

Fengshui in the Qing Dynasty courtroom

Peter Dizikes | MIT News

December 20, 2023

Historian Tristan Brown’s new book tells the overlooked story of an ancient Chinese concept and its role in shaping the country’s law.

A study co-authored by an MIT economist shows that screening for colon cancer reduces cancer rates by substantially more than previously published analyses of randomized trials suggest.

Study: Colon cancer screenings are more effective than previously understood

Peter Dizikes | MIT News

December 19, 2023

By reevaluating existing data, researchers find the procedure is even more valuable than consensus had indicated.

MIT musicians and tour staff with the São Sebastião community on the Tarumã Açu River in the state of Amazonas, Brazil.

Hearing Amazônia: MIT musicians in Manaus, Brazil

MIT Music and Theater Arts

December 14, 2023

In a new documentary film, music’s storytelling power illuminates cultural and environmental sustainability in Brazil.

The Generative AI + Education Symposium, part of MIT's 2023 Generative AI Week, offered thought-provoking keynotes, panel conversations, and live demonstrations of how generative AI is transforming learning experience and teaching practice from K12, post-secondary education, and workforce upskilling.

MIT Generative AI Week fosters dialogue across disciplines

Mary Beth Gallagher | School of Engineering

December 11, 2023

During the last week of November, MIT hosted symposia and events aimed at examining the implications and possibilities of generative AI.

MIT's 2024 Marshall Scholars, Anushree Chaudhuri (left) and Rupert Li

Two from MIT named 2024 Marshall Scholars

Julia Mongo | Office of Distinguished Fellowships

December 11, 2023

Anushree Chaudhuri and Rupert Li will pursue graduate studies in the United Kingdom.

Eric Evans will step down as director of MIT Lincoln Laboratory after 18 years of leading the federally funded center.

Eric Evans to step down as director of MIT Lincoln Laboratory

Zach Winn | MIT News

December 6, 2023

During 18 years of leadership, Evans established new R&D mission areas, strengthened ties to the MIT community, and increased inclusion and education efforts.

MIT Professor Wiebke Denecke is the series editor of the new Hsu-Tang Library of Classical Chinese Literature.

3 Questions: Wiebke Denecke on a landmark project for Chinese literature

Peter Dizikes | MIT News

December 1, 2023

The Hsu-Tang Library of Classical Chinese Literature brings three millennia of classic texts to the world, in bilingual editions.

Burchard Scholars program participants and faculty advisors at the Burchard Scholars program dinner

Burchard Scholars gather to network, connect, and learn

Benjamin Daniel | School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences

December 1, 2023

The Burchard Scholars dinner series helps create conversations between academic disciplines.

Morgane König is a postdoc in theoretical cosmology at MIT and at Dartmouth College, and a 2023 MLK Visiting Scholar at MIT. Her research focuses on the study of the universe as a whole, from the era of inflation to the present.

Everything, everywhere all at once

Sophie Hartley | School of Science

November 29, 2023

Cosmologist and MLK Scholar Morgane König uses gravitational waves to study the universe’s origins, inflation, and present trajectory.

The MIT Game Lab uses games to broaden perspectives and teach students to think critically about the role of games in society.

Serious play at the MIT Game Lab

Zach Winn | MIT News

November 28, 2023

This unique lab uses games as a way for students to play, explore, and learn to think critically about the role of games in society.

The 2023 cohort of Race, Place, and Modernity in the Americas with Joaquin Terrones (left) poses at the Jabaquara Black Cultural Center. Started in 2019, the ongoing program has seen numerous benefits for students and faculty alike.

MIT students build connections with Black and Indigenous Brazilians to investigate culture and the environment

School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences

November 27, 2023

Travel offers students a chance to study how art and cultural activism can impact racial justice and environmental issues.

Malick Ghachem, professor of history and head of MIT's history faculty, speaks during a question-and-answer session after his lecture, "Neutrality, Diversity, and the University."

Judgment, reason, and the university

Peter Dizikes | MIT News

November 22, 2023

MIT’s Malick Ghachem extends the “Dialogues across Differences” lecture series with a talk about the past and present of university politics.

“Effective policymakers can’t afford to be ignorant about the science and technology advances that drive our society,” says MIT student and Air Force ROTC participant Liberty Ladd, who expects to graduate this spring with a BS in political science and mechanical engineering and a master's in political science.

Liberty Ladd: Going above and beyond

Angelina Parrillo | MIT News correspondent

November 22, 2023

For the political science and mechanical engineering student, who is also an Air Force ROTC member, systematic change starts with personal actions.

Attendees examine the ideas and information under discussion during the first "Civil Discourse" event at MIT.

A civil discourse on climate change

Benjamin Daniel | School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences

November 20, 2023

A recent forum was the first in a series planned at MIT this year, part of an initiative meant to encourage the open exchange of ideas.

In a new paper, MIT professor of philosophy Kevin Dorst explores how people might rationally come to hold very different views about some political matters.

How do reasonable people disagree?

Peter Dizikes | MIT News

November 20, 2023

A study by philosopher Kevin Dorst explains how political differences can result from a process of “rational polarization.”

Left to right: MIT students Anica Liu, Margaret Yu, and Angela Li enjoy food and laughs at the Heritage Meets Heritage event.

Celebrating diversity and cultural connections

Michael Brindley | School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences

November 17, 2023

At a “Heritage Meets Heritage” event, MIT students enjoy conversations, trivia, and delicacies from around the world.

A public panel discussion at MIT featuring foreign policy scholars examined China-Russia alignment.

Foreign policy scholars examine the China-Russia relationship

Peter Dizikes | MIT News

November 17, 2023

An expert panel discussed the strengths, and limits, of the alignment between the two world powers and U.S. rivals.

MIT Professor Emeritus Willard Johnson

Professor Emeritus Willard R. Johnson, political scientist who specialized in African studies, dies at 87

Department of Political Science

November 15, 2023

A pioneering Black faculty member, Johnson was also a major supporter of the anti-apartheid movement at the Institute.

Héctor Beltrán is the author of the new book, “Code Work: Hacking Across the U.S./México Techno-Borderlands,” published by Princeton University Press.

Writing code, and decoding the world

Peter Dizikes | MIT News

November 14, 2023

Héctor Beltrán’s new book examines hackers in Mexico, whose work leads them to reflect on the roles they play in society.

Top row, left to right: Isaiah Andrews, Joshua Bennett, Megan Black, William Deringer, E.J. Green, and Nathaniel Hendren. Bottom row, left to right: Caley Horan, Robin Wolfe Scheffler, Frank Schilbach, Caitlin Talmadge, and Leslie Tilley.

Meet the 2023 tenured professors in the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences

Michael Brindley | School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences

November 9, 2023

Faculty members granted tenure in economics; history; literature; music; philosophy; political science; and science, technology, and society.

Lerna Ekmekcioglu is MIT’s McMillan-Stewart Associate Professor of History and the director of MIT’s Women’s and Gender Studies Program.

Centering feminism

Benjamin Daniel | School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences

November 7, 2023

Professor Lerna Ekmekcioglu investigates marginalized women and potential empowerment.

The virtual Starr Forum, “The Israel-Hamas conflict: Expert perspectives on the ongoing crisis,” took place on Nov. 1. Top row, from left: Marsin Alshamary; David Kirkpatrick. Bottom row: Peter Krause; Steven Simon.

Panel examines Israel-Hamas conflict

Peter Dizikes | MIT News

November 7, 2023

As military action continues, experts at an MIT event analyze what may lie ahead.